Well hello there kind viewer, I am Samantha Stitz, curious creator of Hextasy Glass, thank you for stopping by to find out a little about my passion. When it comes to glass, sky is the limit for me, I dabble in fusing, lampwork and also recently enamelling. Based in sunny Brisbane, Australia I live with my amazing partner and our family of 6 tiny dinosaurs (heritage breed chickens). In 2019 we moved into a new-to-me house and a cosy new studio which looks out upon my veggie patch and has become my happy place away from the world.

What could be more magical than glass to work with as a medium? Since stumbling across this amazing field after my mother purchased a fused dichroic pendant in 2008, I have been mesmerized. Little did I know at that this point it was to become my life’s passion, little did mum know she had signed herself up to helping me with markets in exchange for jewellery 😊 (Thanks mum, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your love and encouragement) 😊

Glass can take the shape of just about anything you can imagine, I love the power of being able to shape something that is solid into beautiful creations and am forever fascinated by the colours, different techniques, the endless learning opportunities, and the fantastic places it has taken me.

To be Australian owned and handmade is something we all need to support, especially in the current climate with so much uncertainty in the world. I know I personally do a little happy dance when someone adopts one of my pieces which is why I support other artists when looking for gifts and homewares.

Fusing pendants led me to find the field of lampworking (using an oxygen fuelled torch to melt glass) and I started making beads in 2010. It has been quite a few years now, with a few bumps along the road.

In 2013 I was very unfortunate to have a work accident, tearing the TFC cartilage in the middle of my right wrist. This led to a hand that was rendered inoperable for 18 months due to a wrong specialist diagnosis. I was finally able to have surgery to correct this, and in a nutshell, learn how to use my hand again. It was a very humbling experience which has never dulled my passion and learning, and after a lot of physiotherapy and help and support from family and friends, I have been able to spend the past couple of years on working on fine tuning my sculptural work. Only recently I have side stepped into enamelling copper which is lots of fun to do, especially in the summer months in Brisbane as it can get very hot and humid and not suitable for spending hours at the torch.

Flowers are my obsession. I love the idea that they will never wilt and die, that they can immortally bloom day after day. That they represent so many different stages of life from happiness to tragedy, they celebrate and commemorate occasions. Also my grandfather was an oil painter and my childhood home was filled with his botanical paintings and I have always been drawn to them.

I primarily work in soft glass which I source from suppliers in Italy, Germany and also America. This presents quite a challenge in my work as soft glass can be a bit temperamental and can get unhappy when you are working on large pieces. How I get around this is by talking nicely to it and piecing my sculptures together using individual components and designing them so that they aren’t stressed by the different temperature changes from the torch and once completed, the glass goes through a process of annealing in the kiln. What this means is that the piece is held at a certain temperature such as 510 degrees for a specific amount of time (garaged is the technical term) and then slowly cooled to room temperature. This allows all the molecules that you have upset and gotten out of alignment when manipulating the glass to arrange themselves in a uniform pattern to take the stress out of the glass making it nice and durable.

Glass has taught me great patience and perseverance, and humility as that not everything you will try will work the first time but practice and hard work will always get you where you want to be.

When I’m not in my studio you can generally find me at my day job as an Administrator Monday to Friday, maintaining my website and stockists, getting my hands dirty in my veggie garden and cuddling my wonderful little heritage breed chickens. I am grateful for my amazing partner Chris who both encourages me and doesn’t complain when the kitchen table is covered in components and projects and has travelled all over Australia with me to assist me in markets and exhibitions to share my work with the world.

I love supporting handmade artists, there is so much talent and inspiration to be found out in the community. I enjoy teaching and sharing what I do with others as it is what I breathe every day and has brought me so much joy over the years.

I hope that you will enjoy my passion as much as I do.

Samantha